Blu-Play games are (theoretically) also playable on certain Blu-ray players

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Apparently there is a small list of normal standard Sony Blu-ray players that allows you connect a DualShock4 controller:

BDP-BX350

BDP-BX370

BDP-BX650

BDP-S1500

BDP-S1700

BDP-S2500

BDP-S3500

BDP-S3700

BDP-S5500

BDP-S6500

BDP-S6700

UHP-H1

While this isn't interesting to anyone who owns a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 (or Xbox One), it is interesting in relation to Blu-Play. Because it means that Blu-Play games should be playable on these normal Blu-ray players too!

Blu-ray players nowadays are fairly fast, and very capable of running homebrew BD-J games. The only thing preventing a good experience, is the remote control. Because it is fiddly to use, and only allows one button to be pressed at a time. But with a DualShock4 controller that problem is gone.

Naturally I gotta try to dig up one of these players and put it to the test. Then, when/if I manage to do that, I will come back and update this thread. (You're welcome to do so too of course, if you happen to have one of these players handy).

Note: Only the CUH-ZCT1Uxx version of the DualShock4 controller works with these players. The CUH-ZCT2Uxx version does not work.

Originally, the purpose of connecting a DualShock4 controller to these Blu-ray players (along with a long list of Sony Bravia TV's too) was to play PlayStation 3 games via PlayStation Now streaming service. But Sony decided to close this service on all devices except PS4 and PC back in August 15th 2017. Silly decision if you ask me - but it means that we (theoretically) now have these Blu-ray players suitable for Blu-Play games.

(Of course, certain genres of games will also be fully playable using a plain remote control. But I'm of course talking about games that require more controls).

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Well Sony does make an affordable 4K HDR bluray player ($350 AUD), it would be pretty funny to do more than watch movies on it!

I can't figure out if newer Blu-ray players also allows connecting a gamepad. The list above applies to DualShock 4 (CUH-ZCT1Uxx). There's also a long list of Sony Bravia TV's that you can connect a DualShock 4 (CUH-ZCT1Uxx) to.

All newer TV's from all manufactorers lets you connect a gamepad of some sort. And there are many to choose from. But I don't know if the same applies to all newer Blu-ray players. Probably not. Would probably depend on whether or not it has Smart-TV functionality.

Another option that I have to test somehow is this:

Connect a gamepad to a newer Smart-TV. Any TV, any gamepad. Then use the built-in CEC protocol (that is built into all newer devices) to control the Blu-ray player via HDMI with the gamepad. Possible? If yes, then Blu-Play games are suddenly playable on A LOT of devices.

That's funny. I had the opposite experience just a few days ago. I found out that my ancient Sony Bravia TV handles DLNA surprisingly well. I had no idea! All these years we've had this TV without knowing it could do these things.

I was also surprised to find out it could play the FullHD M2TS video files from a Blu-ray Disc straight from USB! This was especially a surprise because I remember struggling earlier to make it play a lot of other formats without luck.

Also - this ancient TV lets me control Kodi on a Rasberry Pi with the TV's remote control. (That's CEC protocol).

So unless new TV's have stripped away such functionality, which I seriously doubt manufacturers would do (but then again, who knows anymore), I bet it's absolutely possible to do what I have in mind.

The only potential problem could be lag, because it takes time to send the signal from the TV onto the Blu-ray player.

But time will tell. As usual I'm gonna follow up on it and do some tests.

For now I'm bidding on a Blu-ray player on eBay which should let me connect a DualShock4.

And of course the gaming consoles are best for gaming. This is nothing but geeking around for the giggles.

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So I got my hands on a Sony BDP-S3700 blu-ray player, and borrowed a DualShock 4 v1 from a mate.

Yup, it works fine. I can use the DualShock 4 v1 to control Blu-Play games.

BUT: Only one button at a time.

So not a whole lot more useful than a remote control.

That doesn't mean it's useless. Just means it has to be a certain type of game, like Ukko's Journey; one that requires you to press buttons many times, rather than holding multiple buttons at the same time.